I wouldn't care if everyone was wandering in Mk XII if we had a challenging endgame content. The new reputation powers will make STFs boring. Now you don't even need to be good at it to get the prestige sets, you just need to step in a mission where good players will do the work for you in infected space elite.

Where's our challenge? Why releasing even more armors, weapons, sets, active and passive powers if we have no *interesting* place to use them?

We need a champion/nightmare mode or new truely challenging missions requiring excellent gaming skills and the best available gear...

I'm not seeing as close a comparison as others to swg. I was a pre cu Jedi. I was upset when everyone got to start as a jedi and all I got was a crystal. I do not mind the idea of making the needed resources to get the mkXII end game gear easier to get. I have 5 main toons I play and trying to get this gear is fustrating. Quite honestly If I never have to run the cure on the ground again I would die smiling. I have seen too many instances where the one player who has no idea what they are doing in the stf who doesn't wait to 10% or arrives in the stf in a delta flyer, or constantly screams how we are loosing the optional because we are all so stupid for not listening to them always seem to be the one that land up with the prototype reward. If there had even been something where everyone got the same exact rewards or the drop rate was better I'd have been cool with it. but after upwards of 500 runs through the stf's I have 1 MKXII rifle and 2 MKXII ship shield to show for them....yeah I welcome the new system. Thank You DEVS! I think this is a great move!

I don't like to rush to judgment, but this sounds a little like the mistake that killed Star Wars Galaxies.

Too easy is boring.

STO started out very easy, I was max level with BIS PVE gear in about 100 /played hours initially. It looks like now you can get close one step down from BIS in about 150 hours from scratch now, but absolute BIS gear is many days worth of work.

The STF's are old. When they split the ground and space portions they didn't radically change what they were, so this content has been around in one form or another for a long time. That's not a huge problem, but it's time to start having other things people want to do, the new stfs and the new romulan content hopefully.

In MMO's content needs to get easier over time. Really good players (the top 2-5%) who spend a lot of time can get stuff in a week that takes other players months, if not being completely impossible. The STF problem is the random nature of the loot - doing the STF's themselves has gotten easier as more and more people have strats and gear, but not being able to get that one prototype engine or PSG or whatever after months of trying takes the fun out.

As you say, too easy can be boring, extremely rare random items are boring for people who get lucky, and infuriating for people don't. Overall it's not a concept that works fantastically well. You need a little luck and randomness to keep things interesting, but you also need to give people definite goals or they give up on randomness.

The goal unfortunately appears (for now) to be minimal work so that many people are in a position to buy XII.

I don't mind the new dilithium costs, the willingness to spend money is not the same as the desire to put everything in the game for sale.

This is coming from the perspective of someone who buys basically everything in the cstore, including all 5 lockbox ships. It's fun to have a purpose for them.

The current XII holodeck drop rate is clearly around 5%, how hard is that really?

Its not. Dan Stahl said it would only take 40% of the Time in the new system to get a set. I've run the numbers on Marks for Elite Runs being rewarded, and its around 100 Elite Runs in the new system to get a Mk 12 set. Dividing 100 by 40% gets us 250 Runs per set in the drop system. 3 / 250 = 1.2% Drop rate per piece.

Do note 250 Runs is an average. That means half of the population will take less time than that, and half more time. It also means 5% of the population will get it with hardly any effort, and another 5% will see hundreds and hundreds of runs with nothing to show for it. The new system is better, if only because its consistent.

Ok all you who have A full Maco set or Omega or KHG please stop assuming randomness is fair an I have been through the elite STFs (as they are at this moment) and NEVER got a Prototype tech Drop thats 1000's of STFs for Nothing short of loot that I could buy with my easiley earnt EC (easier then pug or organised stfs and faster) and dilithium which you will STILL GET in the new system. I was sick of STFs and all the nonsenseical ego stroking around them untill I saw mention of this system. Finaly I will be able to get them but if you guys who sit there saying "keep it random" had your way I minght never get them. Is that fair for the people like me? If you say yes explain how somone being able to get both a full ground set and a full space set (and then possibly another ground and part of a space set) within 10 stfs out of luck even though they are a worse player (IE not trying at all) and me not geting anything I cant get easier over thousands of STFs despite trying to work efficently every time (in vain hope) is fair.

Except if you did the 100% of old ESTF runs you got TONS of weapons and TONS of dilithium on the way.

In the new 60% you get nothing on the way. In fact you have to pay on the way.

So what is better?

100% with SET+weapons+dil

or

60% with SET+(-dil)

You make a good point, except for one thing. Currently it's not 100% with SET+weapons.
It is currently possible to do an STF 300+ times and never see the tech drop. It is a trade off, we're now guaranteed the tech but we won't get as much other things along the way. I haven't been on tribble so I remain skeptical, but from what it sounds like, I'll be able to enjoy STFs again.